Logs Into Lumber!

I think I have awakened a new passion in my life. I’ve become instantly addicted to sawing logs into lumber with my new Grizzly G0513 X2 17” Bandsaw. So I built this somewhat crude, but effective “log sled” to mount my victims. The sled base is a 36” x 15” piece of 3/4” sand ply. The fence is 10” high and also 3/4” sand ply. The combined height of the base plus fence height is 10 – 3/4” which is just shy of the 12” cutting capacity of the bandsaw, so it serves as a good gauge for the size of logs I can and can’t resaw. The single runner is a piece of ultra high density plastic “Starboard” which fits perfectly in the miter slot. The t-track setup allows the fence to adjust to various size logs to be cut. The front edge of the sled is about 3/16” shy of the bandsaw blade and I set up the log’s first cut to hang over about an inch so that I can get a nice square side to start the process. I then rotate the log 90 deg, and mount the log with the sawn side on the base of the sled to square another side and have the log ready for regular resawing operations on the bandsaw fence. It works like a charm. It’s crude like I said for now. I simply mount the log by drilling and screwing in a couple of wood screws to temporarily hold the log to the fence. I’ve seen other more sophisticated log sleds that have end attachments to hold each end of the log as it passes thru the saw. Those are fine, and I will figure out a way to modify mine to that way soon.

The photos show a Mango Tree log I resawed into 1” slabs. This had been seasoned (drying) for about 18 months, and I think it really is some pretty wood I will use in a box or small cabinet in the near future. Thanks.